One Destiny 2 weapon type resurging in Crucible amid PVP revamp

The recent revamp to Destiny 2’s PvP sandbox has resulted in auto rifles returning to their once-great form.

Bungie’s looter shooter Destiny 2 has just undergone a major PvP revamp. Update 7.3.5 saw sweeping changes to the shooter, including a boost to player health, increased ability cooldowns, and buffs/nerfs to headshot and body shot damage.

The Crucible has gone through a bunch of tweaks from the developers, and therefore seen major changes and improvements. This includes experimental modes that tweak ability cooldowns, new vehicular weapons, better rewards, and more.

However, update 7.3.5 easily saw some of the biggest changes to the mode, which has resulted in a new king of weapons arising.

Auto Rifles have never really had much of a place in The Crucible. With good range, but low damage means that the weapon archetype was easily outclassed by SMGs. However, nerfs to SMGs and the new changes have let the Assault Rifles come back with a vengeance, with Ammit AR2 stepping up the game.

According to DestinyTracker, the Auto Rifle stands as the 3rd most used weapon in Competitive Crucible, with Auto Rifles in general accounting for 20% of the total kills in Trials this week, significantly higher than the 9.6% the week before.

The recent update gave Auto Rifles an increase in critical hit damage by 14%, which in addition to the increased player health gives them a big boost in viability when compared to Submachine Guns, which are generally used for short-range bursts. Submachines also received nerfs to body shot damage in the update, further cementing Auto Rifles’ position.

The update has only been out for a short period so it may take a while for the meta to fully come about, but with the resurgence of Auto Rifles so early on, it may be the return of the king.